After Murder-Suicide Texas Mom Says She'll Cremate Her Children Together
UPDATE: The Medical Examiner said Thursday afternoon the cause of death for the children was multiple gunshot wounds. Each child was shot more than once.
DENTON COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - A North Texas mother has taken to social media again to express her grief and give details on her medical condition after her ex-husband came to her home and opened fire on everyone inside.
The murder-suicide happened Wednesday morning at Amanda Simpson's home in Ponder, about 30 miles north of Fort Worth. After the shooting her three young children and her new boyfriend, 29-year-old Seth Richardson, lie dead.
Simpson's ex-husband, Justin Painter, took the lives of Richardson and his kids before turning the gun on himself.
Just hours after the murders Simpson, who was shot in the shoulder, recorded a Facebook Live video from her hospital bed at Medical City Denton. This morning a visibly groggy Simpson again took to social media. She explained that she is "on a ton of medication" and just seconds before doctors came into her room said, "They don't know how long I'm gonna be in here still."
Simpson did another Facebook Live post minutes later saying, "The surgeon just came in here and asked me how my shoulder's doing. It looks like tomorrow he's gonna take me into the OR and try to get the bullet out of this shoulder, because it's in between my shoulder blade and my rib cage."
Painter was apparently distraught that his ex-wife was about to move in with her new boyfriend. On the video today Simpson talked about Richardson for the first time. "Word has gotten out Seth was there," she said."We were gonna start a life… and I mean, I'll tell everybody that story just I can't do it now. Justin couldn't accept that I made a decision to make myself happy. But, okay enough of that."
During the video Simpson again showed a framed picture of her three children and said, "I'll let you guys know that I will be cremating them together and taking them with me everywhere I go, so I always have them by my side."
Thursday morning the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office officially identified those children as 8-year-old Odin, 6-year-old Caydence and 4-year-old Drake. Odin and Caydence were students at Parkview Elementary in the Keller Independent School District.
Simpson and Justin Painter married in 2012 and their divorce was finalized just two months ago. While the court had awarded Painter custody of their children, Simpson said she had past concerns about his mental stability.
During her video post on the day of the shooting she lashed out at the legal system. "I made it very clear to the judge that he was mentally unstable. And they didn't listen," she said. "So now, I don't have my babies."
(Warning: Strong Language)
Today Simpson said she didn't want to talk about the murders because she keeps "reliving it every time I close my eyes." The 29-year-old says after she's released from the hospital she will be moving to Virginia to be with her family.
The shooting is still under investigating by the Denton County Sheriff's Office, Ponder police and The Texas Rangers.
